Iraqi parliament passes federalism bill
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Baghdad, Oct 11, IRNA
Iraq-Federalism
Iraqi parliament on Wednesday passed a legislation on formation of federalism in Iraq.
Some 140 lawmakers, voted on some 200 articles of the bill individually, passing them all unanimously.
The federalism law sets up a system for allowing provinces to join together into autonomous regions that would hold considerable self-rule powers, a right given to them under the constitution adopted last year in a national referendum.
The parliament also decided to give a period of 18 months for the legislation to take effect as a conciliatory step to the Sunni MPs.
Critics said that the federalism law could fuel Shia-Sunni violence if Sunnis feel violence is the only way to stop what are seen as Shia move to partition the country.
The head of the Shia coalition that dominates parliament, Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim, praised the passage of the bill and denounced Sunni opposition to federalism.
He said the law would be a 'factor of unity in the face of the enemies of Iraq -- Baathists, Saddamists, criminals and Takfiris (Islamic radicals) who rejected federalism, just like before, when they rejected the constitution'.
Sunni Arabs largely voted against the constitution passed in 2005 because it outlined the federal system.
The law outlines a process for forming regions, requiring any province considering joining a region to hold a referendum, if a third of the provincial legislators request it.
In September, the Sunni parties agreed to allow the bill to be presented to parliament for a vote after reaching a deal with Shia lawmakers that the law would not come into effect for 18 months and that a committee would be formed to consider constitutional changes sought by the Sunnis.
Al-Hakim said the Shiite parties were ready to create two regions from the nine mainly Shiite provinces of southern Iraq.
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